Airshows

Hi there,

I'm sure we have some people visiting or willing to visit some air shows.
I know RobE17 is a frequent visitor to these shows as well as me, who else is going to be the minority showing Pentax gear between all of these C&N ? .
First one for me this year will probably be Southend in May.
What are your plans?.
In case somebody would like to go, but is not sure when, where, for a good start, here's the calendar:
http://www.airshows.org.uk/calendar.html

Thanks for the link, very useful.

Thats a very useful lnk, thanks.

I keep saying I'll do an airshow but always seem to miss them, now I have no excuse

Piotro, I have never been to an airshow and have been looking forward to attend to one. Southend looks reasonably closer to where I am. Quite tempting, will check the calendar. If I decide to go then perhaps we might even get together for a coffee and snap a few images together.

Amin, Southend could be some for a start, not the best collection of flying machines, but not bad either especially when the entry fee is 1 pound when on a foot, biggest problem with Southend is usually weather, i.e. last year (on the day when I was there) only a very small of the scheduled flights happen (very low cloud base) and I think the second day was cancelled (I think on the previous years weather was the main problem as well), so worth to keep an eye on the weather when it gets nearer to the date.

good idea, Would hate to go all the way there and be dumped with a lousy weather. I will definitely want to attend a show now that I am geared up and my little one loves these things so want to encourage him more towards these kind of outdoor activities. He is too much attached to his PC , and will easily be sitting there for hours if I don't drag him out.

Thanks for the link piotro, haven't decided yet on the air shows, planning visits to Brize Norton and Amsterdam-Schiphol first

Schiphol - called a heaven for a plane spotter , even after last year closing of the Kaagbaan place.

I happen to like Shoreham

http://picasaweb.google.com/ammonyte/ShorehamAirshow2007#

Ammonyte,I have no particular interest in aircraft but that is a very impressive collection of images.It must have been incredibly satisfying for you when you reviewed those pictures.Thanks for sharing.

mm

Some excellent pictures Tim, but there is one that I am not comfortable with.

I am presuming the Hurricane BD707?

Indeed so Mike. I caught the crash in the corner of a picture I was taking, but subsequently destroyed it. Maybe I am over sensitive, having been on the edge of the aviation community.

Southend isn't a bad show to go to and weather permitting the airport can be interesting. On the front though places for photos are limited especially if you sit near the Cliffs Pavillion where you'll get most of the cable for the PA systems in your images...

Another good venue is the Shuttleworth Collection -

http://www.shuttleworth.org/events.asp

lots of old aircraft and plenty of practice with panning and getting the "prop blur". Parking is never a problem and the aircraft fly close to the crowd line. I went to their Spring Show the other week and I'll put some pictures on in due course. All of them were taken with my monopod and ball head. I recommend the Evening Shows
I was due to go on Satuday but the weather looks a bit awful...

The shows I plan to be at this year include:

Duxford Spring Display
Le Bourget
Waddington
Flying Legends
RIAT (both days )
Duxford Autumn Show

Maybe we could have a meet at one of them?

The thing with this hobby is that is weather dependant and you have to be used to being disappointed at the last minute

Trying to get an evening show in at Shuttleworth probably September time.

When we were at Shuttleworth my girlfriend commented that everyone around us was using Canon and Nikon, I didn't see a single Pentax camera being used until I noticed a chap in the shop with a K10D. I used my DA*300 and some of the Canikon users were paying a bit of interest

Who's going to "represent" Pentax at Biggin Hill next weekend? .
I'm planning to be there, not sure of the day yet.